It Happened One Night Details

This started out as a minor film called “Night Bus” and then MGM decided to punish its errant star Clark Gable by sending him over to Columbia to play the reporter. And what happened? As classy and charming a romantic comedy as you're ever likely to see, winning Oscars in all key departments — best film, director, stars, screenplay (only One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs have matched that achievement) — thanks to whizzkid director Frank Capra and a marvellous foil to Gable in leading lady Claudette Colbert. The scene where runaway heiress Colbert hitches a lift and the infamous “Walls of Jericho” bedroom sequence have great charm, and confirm this standout movie's claim to classic status. Incidentally, Gable changed American fashion overnight in the bit where he strips off his shirt and reveals that he's not wearing a vest!

Highly successful and influential romantic comedy, the first to use buses and motels as background and still come up sparkling. Its success began the genre of screwball comedies that enlivened the 1930s and 40s.